Vegetarian Strawberry Cobb Salad

Vegetarian strawberry cobb is a summer salad that will absolutely become a new favorite! It’s a reimagined version of a classic cobb featuring ripe and juicy strawberries, cornbread croutons and an herbaceous green goddess dressing.

It is officially salad season in my house and OMG I am in love with this one. Whoever said salad isn’t a meal clearly needs to try a cobb, which covers just about every craving possible. This summery version – vegetarian strawberry cobb – is even better (in my opinion) for a few key reasons:

• vegetarian, which means a little bit lower maintenance. HOWEVER, you can certainly add the traditional chicken and bacon if you want to bump up the protein. Crispy bacon is great on this, but it does add an extra step.
• strawberries in place of tomatoes, which is especially perfect for late spring/early summer when they’re peaking. I’ll be honest, tomatoes have such a short season and I don’t *love* them unless they’re just right.
• pickled shallots in place of the traditional raw red onion (always a win)
• cornbread croutons (!!) which are my favorite easy way to make a salad both more interesting and balanced
• homemade green goddess dressing to incorporate all of the fresh herbs you can handle in a punchy, creamy and citrusy finishing touch. It’s also a beautiful green color and just sort of makes the rest of the salad work.

Full Ingredients List

• green lettuce for the base (I love the crispy green leaf by Gotham Greens)
• hard-boiled eggs (see here for a tutorial on how I make them in the Instant Pot)
• strawberries
• cucumbers
• avocado
• cornbread
• pickled shallots (or red onions)
• bleu cheese
• dates
• herbs: basil, dill & mint
• whole milk plain Greek yogurt (I use siggi’s 4% plain)
• mayonnaise
• lemon juice
• salt & pepper

Meal Prep the Components

I won’t lie, there’s quite a lot going on with this recipe. The great part about it is that most of it can be prepared ahead of time, making it more of an assembly style meal the day you serve it. Here’s what I would recommend prepping early if possible:

• Make the dressing – store in a jar in the fridge until ready to use.
• Cook the eggs (make extra for snacking too!)
• Pickle the shallots (or alternatively, buy these pickled red onions from the store)

Note on the croutons: I wouldn’t recommend making the cornbread croutons ahead of time as they get less crispy as they rest. This is the one thing you should make just before serving for best results. I absolutely love the slightly warm, crunchy bite of the croutons when they’re fresh.

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Plating and Serving Tips

When it comes time to actually plating this salad, I like to start with lettuce and make little pockets of the other components (instead of just haphazardly scattering everything around).

If you want to really make the hard-boiled eggs pop, add some salt/seasoning on top (I use everything bagel).

Finish with the croutons and a generous drizzle of the beautiful green goddess dressing.

As the temperature rises, it’s nice to have a few entreé salads in your rotation and this one will not disappoint. It’s easy enough for a weeknight but beautiful enough to serve to guests too!

⭐️ Let me know what you think of it with a comment and star rating below ⭐️

More Seasonal Strawberry Recipes:

• Spring Harvest Farro Salad
• Strawberry Coconut Overnight Oats
• Strawberry Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie

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